What If? Civil War II
by jonathan24
Summary: What if Speedball was involved? What if Speedball was forced to cross a line he had never crossed before? This is what happens when things end just a little bit differently. Warning: spoilers at the end for those who don't know what's going on in the comics.


In the Manhattan Federal Courthouse, everyone is sitting down waiting for the trial to commence. Blind Attorney at Law, Matt Murdock looks on at the people in the courtroom with Carol Danvers and Tony Stark among them. Then, the bailiff makes the announcement.

Bailiff: "Court is now in session. All rise for the honorable Judge Rappaport."

Everyone stands up as the judge walks up to the bench and sits down.

Rappaport: "Today's case: the state of New York vs. Robert Baldwin. The defendant has been accused of murdering a student of Ohio State University who is also revealed to be an Inhuman. Mister Murdock, you may call your first witness."

Murdock: "The state calls Colonel Carol Danvers."

Carol stands up and walks over to the witness stand and sits down.

Murdock: "Please state your name for the court."

Carol: "Carol Danvers, colonel, United States Air Force. I'm also known to some as Captain Marvel."

Murdock: "Can you recall the events of July 19th of this year?"

Carol: "Of course. It was early in the morning when we received word that Tony Stark had just kidnapped Ulysses Cain, an Inhuman who can see into the future. Tony blamed him for what happened to War Machine aka James Rhodes, a friend of ours. We confronted him at an undisclosed location where he was holding Ulysses. He argued about the fact that no one should have the power to change the future whenever they feel like it. As we continued arguing, it happened."

Murdock: "What happened?"

In the place where the heroes confronted Tony and Ulysses, Ulysses has a vision and projects it to everyone present.

Carol: "He had another vision. Only this time, we all saw it."

They find themselves inside an old barn where they see Penance with blood on his right hand standing over Ulysses' corpse in a puddle of blood.

Carol: "And what we saw was horrifying."

As the vision fades, Ulysses is on the floor completely traumatized by what he just seen.

Carol: "Penance is going to kill him."

Murdock: "If I may recall, Penance was Speedball's old alias back when he was working for the US government because of his involvement in the Stamford Incident."

Carol: "That's right."

Murdock: "And you see him in the courtroom?"

Carol: "Yes."

Murdock: "Can you point to him?"

She points her finger at the defendant.

Carol: "Right there. Robbie Baldwin. Speedball."

Murdock: "After you saw this vision, what did you do?"

Carol: "What we had to do."

Captain Marvel and Tony Stark are inside the interrogation room at the Triskelion. Just then, the door to the room opens up and a couple of guards bring in a handcuffed Speedball.

Captain Marvel: "We'll take it from here."

The guards leave the room.

Speedball: "You better have a damn good reason for arresting me like I've committed the biggest act of constructive manslaughter in history!"

Captain Marvel: "I do, and you know why."

Speedball: "No, I don't. I was in the middle of a nice balanced breakfast at a diner with my buddies when you and a S.H.I.E.L.D. squad showed up and arrested me without telling me why. So you better tell me what the hell is this all about!"

Carol: "I've told him about Ulysses and the vision we saw of his death. We were trying to stop crime before it happens. We're only doing what's best for everyone."

Murdock: "And what did Tony say about that?"

Tony: "Are you even hearing the words coming out of your mouth, Carol?!"

Speedball: "Yeah, you sound like you've watched Minority Report way too many times."

Captain Marvel: "Shut up. And Tony, I'm trying to keep him from making the biggest mistake of his life."

Tony: "The Stamford Tragedy was the biggest mistake of his life!"

Captain Marvel: "Don't you think I know that?"

Tony: "We all know Speedball is not a killer. Why would he even kill someone he had never seen before?"

Captain Marvel: "Tony."

Tony: "For God's sake Carol, this is what I'm talking about! We can't go around arresting people for something they will never do. I mean this guy had already been through hell, must we make him suffer even more?"

Captain Marvel: "Well unless you found evidence that proves me wrong, we're holding him here until further notice."

Just then, the alarm goes off.

Captain Marvel: "Director Hill, what's happening?"

Maria Hill: (voice) "It's the New Warriors! They're attacking the Triskelion!"

Captain Marvel: "They're here for Speedball. I'm on my way! Don't even try it Tony."

Captain Marvel immediately leaves the room.

Carol: "I've done a lot of stupid things before, but leaving Tony and Speedball in the same room together really took the cake. After we took down the New Warriors, Tony confessed that during the fight he helped Speedball escape from custody. I chastised him for what he thought it was the right thing to do. But then, things got worse."

Murdock: "Define "worse"."

Carol: "Ulysses has gone missing again. We left him in the care of the Inhumans at New Attilan, but they contacted us and said he just disappeared. I assumed it was Tony's doing, but he denied it."

Murdock: "Were you able to find him?"

Carol: "We had the entire superhero community looking all over New York City for him but he wasn't there. We expanded our search that reached the rest of the country and there was still no sign of him."

Murdock: "Then what happened?"

Carol: "After three hours, we found him at the Stamford Memorial."

Captain Marvel along with S.H.I.E.L.D. and a bunch of superheroes arrive at the memorial and see Speedball in his Penance suit on his knees next to Ulysses' dead body, surrendering himself to them.

Carol: "But it was too late. The vision had come true. Penance killed him in cold blood."

Murdock: "Did you ask him why he committed such a horrible act?"

Carol: "Yes, but he never said a word as we took him in."

Murdock: "Thank you for the testimony, Ms. Danvers. You are now dismissed."

Carol gets out of the witness stand and goes back to her spot in the audience.

Murdock: "The state now calls the defendant to the stand."

Baldwin complies as he walks over to the witness stand and sits down.

Murdock: "Robert Baldwin aka Speedball of the New Warriors aka Penance of the Thunderbolts. Could you tell us what you did on that day?"

Baldwin: "It was right after Stark freed me. I was going to get out of the Triskelion with my friends, but then something hit me. I heard the voices in my head again."

Murdock: "What voices?"

Baldwin: "The cries of the 612 lives lost, back to haunt me. I thought I had put the past behind me, but it had found a way to return to me. It was time I had done something about it."

Murdock: "So you kidnapped Ulysses from New Attilan."

Baldwin: "Yes I did."

Murdock: "How is it that someone like you would be able to kidnap an Inhuman from one of the most heavily fortified places in the world?"

Baldwin: "Let's just say that infiltrating and exfiltrating to and from New Attilan was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and I didn't have to wear a stealth suit."

Murdock: "So where did you take him?"

Ulysses wakes up being tied to a chair inside a barn.

Ulysses: "Why do I keep getting myself kidnapped by crazy people?"

Speedball steps out of the shadows.

Speedball: "We need to talk."

Baldwin: "I took him to my grandparents' old abandoned farm in Connecticut. It's the least likely place that anyone would ever look. I just had one question for him..."

Speedball: "WHERE WERE YOU?!"

Ulysses: "Okay. Ow, you don't have to shout right at my face like that. Also, what are you talking about?"

He pulls out his phone and shows Ulysses news footage of the Stamford Incident, the Superhero Registration Act, and the Superhuman Civil War.

Speedball: "I was the one who started it. Hundreds of people, including dozens of kids were obliterated in one day. Everyone blamed me for what I did. I've turned heroes against one other, some were killed in the conflict. I've condemned myself for what I had done. I thought it was all over, until you showed up. You have the power to look into the future, so where were you when my life became a living hell?"

Ulysses: "I didn't have my powers back then, I never found out that I was an Inhuman. Hell, I was a normal, regular teenager just like everybody else! I'm sorry!"

Speedball: "I don't need your apology. I just wanted a straight answer."

Murdock: "Did you blame Ulysses for what happened on that day?"

Baldwin: "I never said that I blamed him."

Murdock: "Then why did you kill him?"

Speedball pulls out a duffel bag from the shadows and opens the zipper, revealing his Penance suit.

Baldwin: "I know how it feels to have a weapon of mass destruction on the loose, especially if it's in the right hands. That if you're not careful, you would set it off and kill a whole lot of people."

Ulysses watches as Baldwin changes from his Speedball outfit and into his Penance suit.

Baldwin: "I started a war that left hundreds dead. But I'll be damned that I'm going to let someone else start another that would claim thousands, or even millions of lives! Stark was right about one thing, Speedball isn't a killer. But Penance does not want to hold back anymore."

Penance charges up his right hand as he walks over to Ulysses.

Ulysses: "Oh God, it's really happening! Please don't do this!"

Penance grabs him by the shirt and raises his right hand.

Baldwin: "I literally had no choice."

Penance: "Never again!"

He punches a hole through Ulysses' chest, killing him instantly. He then throws his body down on the floor.

Baldwin: "I spared the man who ruined my life. But I had murdered an innocent person whose powers were much too dangerous for anyone to use."

Murdock: "Why did you carry his body all the way to the Stamford Memorial?"

Baldwin: "I want to show everyone there how much of a disgrace I had become. Now I have one voice that'll be forever stuck inside my head, and his name is Ulysses Cain. I have nothing more to say."

Murdock: "Very well then."

Rappaport: "Has the jury reached it's verdict?"

Jury Man: "We have, your honor."

The juror gives a note to the bailiff, which he gives to the judge.

Rappaport: "Thank you. Will the defendant please rise?"

Baldwin stands up.

Rappaport: "This courtroom finds the defendant, Robert Baldwin, guilty of murder in the first degree."

She then bangs her gavel. As Baldwin is being taken away by the bailiff, he takes one last look at Tony and Carol.

Baldwin: "You're welcome."

The scene cuts to Tony, Captain Marvel, and Captain America standing on the flight deck outside the Triskelion and watch as New Attilan flies off into space.

Tony: "Dammit, I knew this would happen! I warned you, Carol! None of this would've happened if you didn't try to change the future! Thanks to you, we've got a superhero rotting in a federal prison for the rest of his life and the Inhumans no longer trust us because he killed one of their own!"

Captain Marvel: "I know. I wished that I never did what I did. First Rhodes, and now this. I don't see how it can get any worse."

Captain America: "I'm afraid it just did."

Captain America pulls out two guns on them and shoots them both in the head, killing them.

Captain America: "This is Steve Rogers. Let it begin."

A fleet of Hydra Helicarriers appear out of the sky as countless waves of Hydra fighter jets attack the Triskelion and New York City.

Captain America: "Hail Hydra."

THE END


End file.
